Third Time Won't Be a Charm for Citi

Wall Street hates it when companies fail to clear the expectations bar. But as Citigroup saw Thursday, it really hates it when that happens after the bar already has been lowered.

Over the six weeks or so before Citi's fourth-quarter report, analyst estimates for earnings fell by nearly 20 cents to 95 cents a share, according to FactSet. Even so, Citi came up short, posting earnings of 82 cents after adjusting for certain accounting...